Generally, a rechargeable battery, a positive electrode and a negative electrode of which are made of materials that can electrochemically react, is a battery that may be charged or discharged through conversion between chemical energy and electrical energy. The rechargeable battery is mainly utilized in a vehicle, a ship, or the like that are required to store large amounts of electrical power.
As a representative example of the rechargeable batteries, there is a lithium rechargeable battery that generates electrical energy by chemical potential change when metal (e.g., lithium, sodium, or the like) ions are intercalated and deintercalated in a positive electrode and a negative electrode.
The lithium rechargeable battery is manufactured by utilizing materials that can reversibly intercalate and deintercalate the lithium ions as active materials for the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and by filling an organic electrolyte solution or a polymer electrolyte solution between the positive electrode and the negative electrode.
However, only a limited amount of lithium exists in the earth, and the lithium is generally obtained through difficult processes from minerals, salts, and the like. Since high cost and high energy are required for manufacturing the lithium rechargeable battery, a next generation rechargeable battery that may replace the lithium rechargeable battery is needed.
The lithium rechargeable battery may explode, and since a lithium metal oxide (e.g., LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, etc.) used as a positive electrode active material is expensive, high cost is required for realizing a large storage system (an energy storage system (ESS)), and when a wasted lithium rechargeable battery is processed, environmental problems may occur. In addition, since facilities associated with lithium rechargeable batteries are mistaken for facilities such as nuclear power plants, when sites for them are selected, social issues such as opposition of residents may occur.
To solve these problems, it is essential to reduce the risk of explosion, to select a material that is environmentally friendly, is abundant in the earth, and is inexpensive, and to develop a battery system that may preemptively prevent conflicts with community members when a site therefor is selected, but study results for them are insufficient.